The UNHCR Guidelines on Formal Determination of the Best Interests of the Child are part of the commitment (Agenda for Protection Goal 6.2.) by UNHCR to disseminate materials on the rights of refugee children, drawing on the Convention on the Rights of the Child and other international human rights law. Information collected from a variety of reports, including the Annual Protection Reports, as well as through participatory assessments, indicates that there is no consistency among field offices as to when and how Best Interests Determinations should be carried out.
The Guidelines are for the benefit of staff from UNHCR, implementing and operational partners who are required to make and document a formal determination of the best interests of the child at field level. While the Guidelines also make reference to obligations by States and UNHCR’s monitoring and supportive role, these are not addressed in a comprehensive manner. The Guidelines identify the underlying principles that can be used to construct a framework for ensuring compliance with the Convention on the Rights of the Child in a formal Best Interests Determination (BID).
They set out the legal and other principles that will guide decision-makers in:
- When to make a formal Best Interests Determination;
- Who should make the determination and what procedural safeguards should be followed;
- How criteria should be applied to take a decision in a particular case.
The Guidelines make frequent reference to other aspects of UNHCR’s work with children, including the identification of unaccompanied and separated children, registration procedures, tracing and the appointment of a guardian. Guidance on these issues which are generally preconditions for a proper formal BID are included in the 1994 Refugee Children: Guidelines on Protection and Care as well as in the 2004 Inter-Agency Guiding Principles on Unaccompanied and Separated Children and in the reference materials listed in these two documents.
These Guidelines will be included into an updated version of the 1994 Refugee Children: Guidelines on Protection and Care.
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